Do you switch dry foods?

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

I switch canned meats with the dogs pretty regularly like real salmon one day, Evo rabbit another.

 

My problem is I feel like I should switch dry foods. I'm currently feeding canidae and it's a great price 29.99 for 40lbs. I split the bag with mom.

 

I'm looking for another good food but, nothing that is that low price is easily available.

[RaisingRiver]

I don't.

 

The ingredients would vary a bit, even within same brand and could cause a sensitive dog diarrea or maybe just runny poo.

[MaggieDog]

One of the reasons I think Maggie's tummy is so tough is that I do switch her food every 2 or 3 months.

 

I generally have a 'base' food that we go to every other switch, right now it's CA Natural (fish), but the inbetween months she gets a variety of foods. So far we've tried Innova Evo, Eagle Pack Holistic, Premium Edge, and Prairie. I'm hoping to try Solid Gold's Barking at the Moon when I get my next bag of dog food.

 

If you have a dog w/ a sensitive tummy I wouldn't recommend it, but for a normal dog I think it's a good idea.

[sea4th]

I guess I'm lucky in that I have dogs with cast iron stomachs with only occasional digestive upsets. I do switch foods and have for years. I guess it's mostly in effort to find THE food for my dogs, but I've come to the conclusion that no one food is best for all the time for my group. They get fed a variety of foods and these days, as opposed to years ago, there is a much better choice of kibbles out there because of a more educated dog food buying public.

 

I'd say depends on the individual dog.

[juliepoudrier]

I agree with Vicki--I think the main reason for switching (and probably the reason The Whole Dog Journal recommends it) is that no one food is perfect. So if you switch occasionally, you are covering more of the bases of your dogs' needs. I switch fairly often (2-3 times a year), but like MaggieDog, I have a base food that is a standard for in between or whenever. I do not even bother to slowly integrate one food with the other when switching, and it doesn't seem to bother my dogs. I also change the "toppings" the get regularly too. I figure the greater the variety the better it is for them.

 

J.

[Kitch]

Before I switched to raw I would have been hesitant but raw feeding has changed my mind. Dublin gets different food everyday (pork, beef, chicken, rabbit, mackarel, salmon, veggies, eggs, lamb, duck, etc)

 

My concern now if that he gets enough variety.

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

I was curious does anyone know why dog foods arent pork based? I was beginning to think pork was bad for them in some way.

 

I guess I will do one more bag of canidae to get Maddie to 6 months and then switch. I think if I'm really nice I can get premium edge lamb and rice from one guy.

 

I wish Petfood direct was a better distributor.

I live a one day ship from them and I will wait almost 10 days to get my stuff. It makes me want to walk to Philly after someone.lol

[Root Beer]

I'm glad you asked this because I've been thinking of switching Sammie and Maddie's food more.

 

My husband wants us to use a less expensive (but still good quality) food. I liked what they were on before. They seem to do fine on both and switching didn't affect either of them.

 

I was thinking that a good compromise would be to switch every other bag since they switched over well.

 

I've also gotten more comfortable with this idea because of Speedy eating raw. Variety doesn't bother him at all.

[PSmitty]

I used to rotate between a few good foods every 3 or 4 months. That was before Jack, but Lilly never had any problems with it. They'd been on Evo for about a year though, without switching, because they look so good on it.

 

I just started feeding raw today (yay me!), so I guess with that, I'll vary the protein sources every so often.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

There are a couple foods that have pork - you'll see the occaisional feed store brand with it, and Eagle PAck has it in some of their products.

 

I feed about half raw so the dogs are used to being switched up pretty regularly. I feed a different food almost every bag - it works out to about once a month at the rate we feed the big bags.

 

I rotate the grains seasonally based roughly on some of Volhard's recommendations, and for other reasons. In the summer I like a barley based feed and in the winter I like oatmeal. I prefer fish meal in every formula if possible. I prefer fish and lamb in he summer and beef in the winter.

[RaisingRiver]

Wow, I never knew it was a good idea to switch. You guys have got me thinking. Thanks.

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

I rotate the grains seasonally based roughly on some of Volhard's recommendations, and for other reasons. In the summer I like a barley based feed and in the winter I like oatmeal. I prefer fish meal in every formula if possible. I prefer fish and lamb in he summer and beef in the winter.

 

 

Is it for warmth that they recommend using that formula? I can do eagle pak pretty easy but, I was warned the oatmeal increases stools.

[Dal & Mad's Mom]

I forgot to add I cant feed fish to my JR it makes her terribly gassy and ill.